Railway mail car



Feb. l, 1938. s. E. wxLEY RAILWAY MAIL CAR Filed Jan. 14, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 and A Harney SawaueZE 1717.227

Y I q By Feb. 1, 1938. s. E. WILEY RAILWAY MAIL CAR' 4 sheets-sheet 2 Filmed Jan. 14, 1956 Inventor Save/di E mi? Feb 1, 1938. s E W|| EY 2,107,099

RA ILWAY MAIL CAR Filed Jan. 14, 193e 4 sheets-sheet 5 Inventor @ga/:nuez 55457? Bymaaizm@ A llornels Feb. 1, 193s. s, E WILEY 2,107,099

RA ILWAY MAIL C AR Filed Jan. 14, 193e 4 sheets-sheet 4 wv s 03 v: 5

nverg lor -Samuez E mi? llorneps Patented Feb. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILWAY MAIL CAR Samuel E. Wiley, Nashville, Tenn.

Appiication January 14, 1936, Serial No. 59,148

9 Claims.

My invention relates generally to railway mail handling and transporting means, and particularly to a motorized railway mail car for picking up, handling, and discharging mail while traveling at unusually high speed, and without slowing up, and which avoids the destruction of mail bags and receptacles while traveling at such high speeds, and an important object of the invention is to provide a car of the character indicated which will enable the picking up, sorting, and delivery of mail independently of or in cooperation with the regular railway mail system, whereby the transportation and delivery of mail by land may be greatly facilitated and speeded up, so as to be capable of competing favorably with the air mail systems.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a car of the character indicated above which is suitable for use on the rails of the 20 regular railway systems or for use on independent rails or tracks paralleling the regular railway system or taking short-cuts in the interest of speed and safety.

Another important object of the invention 25 is to provide in a car of the character indicated above means for picking up the mail from a mailbag rack at a station or other place while the car is traveling at extraordinarily high speed, in such a way that the bag or bags are not subjected to the impact ordinarily given them by the usual pick-up devices while the train embodying the same is moving at a high rate of speed, the said means including arrangements whereby the bag or bags are picked up at a speed corresponding to the speed of the car and delivered to the interior of the car at gradually reduced rates of travel toward the rear of the car.

Another important object of the invention is to provide in a car of the character indicated above mechanically operated means for delivering or dropping from the car at a given station or other place, mailbags rdestined for delivery there at a speed of motion from the rear of the car substantially approaching the speed of forward motion of the car, so that the bags of mail are -deposited on the tracks without such momentum as would cause heavy and damaging impact of the bags with the ground.

Other important objects of my invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description in connection with the drawings, wherein for purposes of illustration I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings:-

Figure 1 is a general longitudinal vertical sectional view taken through the embodiment and showing the interior arrangements thereof.

Figure 2 is an elevational view of a portion of the rear or back of the car.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View through the rear of the car showing the delivering gate open.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional View taken through Figure 1 approximately on the line 4-4 and looking downwardly.

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional View taken through the clutch mechanism.

Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectional View taken through Figure l approximately on the line 5--5 and looking toward the left.

Figure 7 is a horizontal sectional View taken through the rear of the car and showing the mailbag delivering or discharging platform in discharging position.

Figure 8 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View taken through Figure 4 approximately on the line 8-8 and looking upwardly in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 9 is a horizontal sectional view taken through Figure l approximately on the line 9-9 and looking downwardly and showing the mail discharging platform in inoperative retracted position with the tail gate in closed position.

Figure 10. is a longitudinal Vertical sectional View taken through Figure 9 approximately on the line IIJ-I0 and looking downwardly in the direction of the arrows.

Figure l1 is a. perspective view of the mail delivery platform latch.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 5 generally designates the frame or chassis of the car which has a forward part 6 elevated over the forward truck I an-d a rear part 8 elevated over the rear truck 9, the remaining portion of the chassis being depressed to lower the center of gravity, give adequate ceiling height, and enable having the mail handling mechanism on a low level.

The streamlined body generally designated I0 is generally rectangular in cross section and has the floor II conforming to the chassis 5 and the generally parallel side walls I2 and I3 terrninating in the rounded nose I4 which slants forwardly and downwardly as indicated in Figure 1 and 50 has the mail pick-up opening I5 closed by the curve-d sliding doors I6, and I'I in the upper part thereof, and in the lower part thereof the engineers window I8.

Above and defining the engineers compart- 55 ment and the mail handling compartments is the ceiling partition I9 which extends from the front Vof the car to the compartment I9 at the rear of the car and defines above it the conveyor compartment 20.

A transverse partition 2| intermediate the ends of the c-ar define mail handling rooms and the engineers compartment while a rearward partition 22 defines the front of the compartment I9.

The wind entering the opening I5 in the car if proceeding at a high speed travels through the conveyor compartment 29 and passes through the screened opening 52 in the end wall 5I of the compartment 20 and then the air passes into the duct 23 which underlies the downwardly curved rear deck 25 of the car and overlies the compartment I9. The air or wind is then broken up into two streams by the vertical ducts 26 which carry the air downwardly and Yinto the front ends of horizontal ducts 21 which openvthrough the rear ofthe car and discharge into the atmosphere. In the lower part of the ducts 26 are electric or -other suitable fans 28 which aid in the discharge of the airand measurably reduce the resistance to the passage of the air by the ducts produced by the tortuous character of the ducts, so that the resistance to forward motion of the car is reduced to a minimum while the mail receiving opening I5 is open by reason of the open position of the doors I6 and I1.` Another important function `of the ducts 26, 21 and the fans 28 is to reduce the eff-ect of the vacuum behind the car when the car is travelling at high speed, therebyk preventing a car following motion of the mailV VVa tail gate 29 which ordinarily closes the rear mail discharging'opening 30, the said gate being hinged as indicated by the numeral 3I and arranged to be supported `in horizontal position while open by a chain 32 and to be held closed in a closed position by the latch arrangement 33.

The axle 34 of the forward wheels of the rear truck has thereon a belt pulley 35 over which is trained a belt 36 which leads upwardly through the floor of the car and-through a protecting casing 31 and over a pulley 38 on the clutch shaft 39 which'is rotatably supported by a bracket 40, as shown in Figure 5, the said clutch shaft having on the opposite side of the bracket 40 and rotatable relative to the shaft'SQthe small gear 4I `and the larger gear 42 which are held properly spaced by positioning collars 43 and 44. Between these gears is the slidable clutch member 45 which is splined to the shaft 39 and movable selectively into operative engagement with the gear 4I or with the gear 42 by the clutch fingers 46 and 41 which are oper-atively connected to the clutch lever 48 which is pivoted as indicated at 49 and whichY extends downwardly through the ceiling portion I9 andthrough a flexible retainer 50 to an operative position within the compartment I9 just forward of the wall 5I which encloses the rear of the conveyor compartment 2i),` the said wall having a conveyor inspection window 52 and an `elephant-trunk chute E3 which has its upper forwardly tending end which is in communication with the compartment 20 and slightly tapers downwardly and toward the right side wall of the car and opens forwardly so as to deliver the sacks or bags of mail onto the floor within the chute 53 of the elevated part 8 in th-e compartmerit I9 `for manual-handling `by the railroad crew to the mail crew in the sorting and packing postal compartment forward j of the compartment I9.

Mounted in suitable brackets on the ceiling I9 and withinY the conveyor compartment 26 is the shaft 55 which has fixed thereto the relatively large gear 56 with which the clutch shaft gear 4I is constantly meshed and the relatively small gear 51, with which the clutch shaft gear 42 is constantly meshed. When the clutch operating lever 48 is manipulated so as to bring the clutch member 45 having automobile type clutch ends engageable with a similar end on each of the gears 4I and 42, into engagement with the gear 4I the conveyor belts to be described are driven at a relatively low speed; while when the clutch. member 45 is disengaged from the gear 4I and engaged with the gear 42 the shaft 55 and hence the said conveyor belts will be driven at a relatively high rate of speed. l

Forwardly of the shaft 55 is another shaft 58 and over the shafts 55 and 59 is trained a smoothy conveyor belt 59 which travels at a relatively slow speed. Above the shaft 58 is supported another shaft 66 which is sprocket driven from the shaft 58 to drive the cleat equipped conveyor belt 6 I` at a higher speed than the belt 59 the belt 6I being trained over the shaft 60 and over another forwardly located shaft 62 which is, in turn, in sprocket drive relation to another shaft 63 which has trained thereover the cleat equipped conveyor belt 64 which is, in turn, trained over the shaft 65 which is forward of the shaft 63. The shaft 65 sprocket drives another shaft 66 which has trained thereover the cleat equipped conveyor belt 61 which is, inturn, trained over the shaft 68 forwardly of the shaft 66. The shaft 68 sprocket drives the shaft 69 which has trained thereover the higher speed conveyor belt 10 which is, in turn, trained over the shaft 1I close to the front end of the car Iand immediately within the opening I5. When the doors I6 and I1 are in their open positions the high speed conveyor 10 Y is exposedror uncovered to receive the mailbags or sacks from the stationary rackat the station i#4,5

or other location. v

The arrangement of the sprocket drives between the Vvarious conveyor belts is such that the high speed conveyor belt 10 isY traveling toward the rear at a speed substantially that of the fori,

ward motion of the oar, so that the mailbags or sacks upon contact with the belt 16 are carried toward the conveyor belt 61 ata rate which prevents impact and tearing of the bags such as ordinarily occurs when-fsemi-rigidly mountedi rearwardly first at a rate approximating that.

of the forward travel of the car and Vthen iat a gradually reduced rate until the mail is finally delivered to the chute 53 at a very slow rate so that the mail will slide through the chuteand on to the floor of the compartment I9 at a desirable' slow rate. n

However, the conveyor belts can be driven from the shaft 39 at either one of two different speeds through means of gears 4I and 42 and the clutch member 45. This enables Vthe rate of travel of mail bags over theA conveyor means to be regulated to a certain'extent.

It is to be observed that the handling compartments below the ceiling I9 will preferably be low but the floor I I is low set on account of the low-slung arrangement ofthe car frame or chassis, so that generally speaking ample headroom obtains throughout the car enabling the crews to work in standing positions. The numerals 1I and v12 lindicate doors inthe side wall of the car- The means for handling the mail in the car while, the car is traveling at relatively high speeds, say from 70 to 90 miles per hour, have been described above. I will now describe the means whereby the -mail may be discharged onto the tracksV or ground without jarring or injury to the sacks or their 'contents and while the car is traveling at equally high speeds.v The mechanism comprises the 'centralized longitudinal air pressure cylinder 13- which has therein the piston 14 having the connecting rod 15 extending through the rear of the cylinder and connected to the L-shaped platform 16 which is preferably composed of L-shaped bars and may be reliably supported on4` rollers or the like 11 placed rearwardly, so asl to be capable of being extended through therearv opening 38 and out over and behind the tail gate`29 as shown in Figure 7.

v vThe pressure cylindery 13 has a low pressure connection 18 and which is suicient to move the piston 14 rearwardly Vin a relatively slow manner so as to startl the platform rearwardly after the gate 29 hasbeen manually opened, the platform containing the sacks of mail to be dropped from the car. Spaced from the front end of the cylinder 13 is the conduit 19 which leads from a high pressure cylinder 88 which has a high pressure connection 8|. The conduit 19 is not uncovered by the piston 14 of the cylinder 13 until the platform 16 has been worked rearwardly well on its way. As soon as the piston 14 in its rearward travel uncovers the conduit 19, the platform 15 will be shot rearwardly at sufficiently high speed to deposit the mail sacks on the ground or tracks without appreciable momentum, so that the sacks Will not hit the ground heavily and the contents of the sacks will not be jarred, as would be the case if the sacks were simply dropped off the back end of the car.

For holding the platform 16 in retracted position as shown in Figure 9, I provide the latch arrangement which is generally designated 82 and which comprises the bracket 83 fastened to the floor of the compartment I9, the shaft 83 mounted in said bracket and having the L- shaped arms 84 and 85 at its opposite ends which include the rollers 86 and 81 which engage the depending flange of the angle iron form 88 at the rearward side thereof to hold the platform 16 in retracted position. Suflicient clearance is provided between the lower edge of the angle iron 88 and the floor of the compartment. When the lever 89 is pulled forwardly, the rollers 85 and 81 are moved upwardly along the member 88 until the member 88 clears the rollers by an upward swing of the arms 84 and 85, the platform 18 is free to be pushed rearwardly by operation of the cylinder 13 into the fully extended position shown in Figure 7. Suitable means may be provided for retracting the platform 16 into the initial position shown in Figure 9, or the same may be manually retracted.

Although I have shown and described herein a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be definitely understood that I do not desire to limit the applicationf` ofthe invention thereto, and any change or changes may be made in the materials, and in the structure and arrangement of the parts, within the spirit ofthe invention and the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed ist- 1. A railway mail motor car comprising a wheeled body formedin its'front end with a mail receiving opening, a rearwardly moving conveyor arrangement extending into said opening and designed to receive a sack of mailv coming vthrough said opening, said conveyor arrangement comprising a plurality of flights andv means for driving each succeeding flight at a lower rate of-speed than the precedingl one, said means including means for driving-the front portion of said conveyor arrangement at a speed approximately4 the-speed of forward movement of the car. f l

2. A railway mail car comprising a Wheeled body formed in its front end Witha mail receiving opening, a'rearwardly moving conveyor arrangement extending -into said opening and designed to receive a sack of mailcoming through said opening, and means driving a. front portion of said conveyor arrangement at a speed approximately the speed of forward movement of the car, so as to avoid impacting the sack of mail, said car including means receiving the sack of mail from the rear end of the conveyor arrangement, said conveyor arrangement comprising rearwardly succeedingilights, each succeeding flight moving at a slower rate of speed than the precedingiiight. f

3. A railway mail car comprising a wheeled body formed in its front end with a mail receiving opening, a rearwardly moving conveyor arrangement extending intol said opening and designed to receive a sack of mail coming through said opening, and means driving a front portion of said conveyor arrangement at a speed approximately the speed of forward movement of the car, so as to avoid impacting the sackl of mail, said car including means receiving the sack of mail from the rear end of the conveyor arrangement, said conveyor arrangement comprising rearwardly succeeding flights, each succeeding flight moving at a slower rate of speed than the preceding flight, said ights being operatively connected, and the rear flight being driven from a track or ground engaging wheel, whereby said nights are operated at speeds coordinated with respect to the speed of forward motion of the car.

4. A railway mail car comprising a wheeled body formed in its front end with a mail receiving opening, a rearwardly moving conveyor arrangement extending into said opening and designed to receive a sack of mail coming through said opening, and means driving a front portion of said conveyor arrangement at a speed approximately the speed of forward movement of the car, so as to avoid impacting the sack of mail, said car including means receiving the sack of mail from the rear end of the conveyor arrangement, said conveyor arrangement comprising rearwardly succeeding nights, each succeeding flight moving at a slower rate of speed than the preceding flight, said flights being operatively connected, means for driving the rear flight from a track or ground engaging wheel, whereby said flights are operated at speeds coordinated with respect to the speed of forward motion of the car, and said drive means for the rear flight including selective speed transmission means whereby the speed of Y Vsack from the conveying Vmeans and conveying it downwardly to Ithe floor of the body.

6. Arailway mail car of the character described comprising an elongated body having av mail sack receiving. openingrin Yits front vrend,a compartment in theupperfpart of the body, means in the compartment for rearward transfer of the mail received through said-opening, said compartment having a directconnection with said opening, and air ducts leading from the rear of said compartment and extending at opposite sides of the rear portion of the body and opening through the rear endY of the body, said air ducts being arranged to relieve the rearwardlyrushing air pressure in said compartment caused by high speed forward movementof,l the car.

7. A railway mail car of .the character de scribed comprising an elongated bodyhaving a mail sack receiving opening in its front end, a compartment rin the upperl partfof the body, means in the compartment for rearward transfer of the mail received through saidopening, said compartment having a direct connection with said openingand -air-ducts leading from the rear Vof said compartment andextending at opposite sides Vof the rear portion -of thebody and opening through the rear end of 'the body, said air ducts 4anend arranged adjacent -theppening and door means for closing the opening.

- 1 9. -A ,railway mail car of the -class described,

comprising an elongated .body having a discharge opening-at its rear end, conveyor meansin the body Vfor `discharging a sack of mail through the opening, an opening in the feront-end -of the body,

a passage.extending'longitudinally in the body and having one end Vin communication with the front opening, and air ducts leading from the rear end of said passage and -extending at opposite sides to therrear portion of the body and opening through the rear end of the body at the sides of the rear opening, said ducts being arranged to relieve the low pressure area -immediately adjacent the-,rear kend/of the Acar'by delivering to such areaV the rearwardly rushing air whichfows through the passage and ducts when the train is moving forwardly at -high speed, thus preventing the mail bagfdeposited'on `the track from following the car. y ,l I v I 1 SAMUEL-E. WILEY. 

